I think everyone has a different opinion on this topic that's why I'm asking. What's the hardest Yakuza game in your opinion? It's not about the difficulty for 100% in the game but about how difficult it is to finish the games story.

For me it's Yakuza Kiwami for reasons. The pre Final Boss is the most difficult boss I fought in any Yakuza Game because of his Bodyguards who even get revived after half of the fight and deal some serious damage. On top of this the normal Combos use heat if you use the final attack which makes it harder to accumulate Heat. Also the Dragon Fighting Style is pretty useless for most parts of the game because you need to level it with the Majima Everywhere system. That's why you can't max the Style out before the Final Battle. The normal enemy KI is more agressive compared to other Games like Yakuza Zero and they also deal much damage. All this points make this game the hardest for me.

One Funny side Note: Yakuza 4 isn't known for being to difficult but I got some real trouble during the final Boss fight with Tanimura. I wasn't prepared to fight with him and only had 3 Healing Items and 1 Heat Item and played on normal difficulty (Tanimura was Level 11). That fight became a real Challenge.

I also played Zero before and my reaction to Kiwami was like "Why is my beloved Brawler Battle Style so weak in this Game?" I had my problems finding the right Style to get through all fights. In the end It was a mix from Rush and Beast Style.

@Zeraslight wrote:I also played Zero before and my reaction to Kiwami was like "Why is my beloved Brawler Battle Style so weak in this Game?" I had my problems finding the right Style to get through all fights. In the end It was a mix from Rush and Beast Style.

I actually grinded Dragon to the maximum that I could every chance I could. and after getting it to C, I almost exclusively used only Dragon and Beast. Rush sucks in Kiwami compared to how OD it was in 0, IMO.

I would say they weakened Brawler and Rush Style for Kiwami but improved the Beast Style. Most of the time I used Beast Style and for Bosses Rush Style. Dragon wasn't something I used until the final Battle and Postgame. Seeing the reactions I think it's almost clear that Yakuza Kiwami is the hardest Yakuza Game. I already forgot about the healing mechanic from bosses but that's something that doesn't make the game any easier.